Families experience an abundance at Christmas; food, gifts, and decorating. All that abundance means that there is an excess of materials to dispose of after the celebrating. But all is not lost. So many families are well versed in separating recycling from trash, recycling collections are well used after the holiday. Glass, plastic, metal, and paper can all be separated out for the recycling. Wrapping paper and gift cards can be recycled along with the newspaper and cardboard boxes. Foil wrapping and cards should be discarded, not recycled.

Preventing waste is always the first choice. This is true with holiday papers as well. If you can encourage people to carefully unwrap paper, opening at the tape, the paper can be saved for another year. Saving the paper can become a tradition with special papers reappearing year after year.
Greeting cards can also have another life besides the recycling box. St. Jude’s Ranch for Children accepts all greeting cards year around. Donations can be mailed to: St. Jude’s Ranch for Children, Recycled Card Program,100 St. Jude’s Street, Boulder City, NV 89005.

Christmas trees can also have another life after the holiday. Some towns and villages collect or accept trees and will mulch them, keeping them out of the landfill. Check with your local municipality about its program. However trees can provide shelter for birds in the yard for the winter months. Placing an evergreen tree close to the bird feeders and securing it against winter winds will give birds a place to hide out from predators and shelter against the cold. In the spring, the bare branches of the tree can be cut away from the trunk and be used as the base layer for the compost pile. If you have questions about reducing waste, composting or recycling, please call the Western Finger Lakes Authority, 315.946.7650, or e-mail mtorelli@co.wayne.ny.us. Check out our website, www.wfingerlakesauthority.org. Follow us on Twitter, WFLArecycle. Find us on Facebook.